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Southern Copper Corp. Mining Metal for Clean Copper Clappers

With its U.S. office in Phoenix, Arizona, Southern Copper Corp. is a premier mining metallurgical enterprise. The Company is a producer of copper and valuable by-products. Southern Copper engages in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; and the smelting of copper concentrates to produce anode copper. Additionally, it engages in the refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes, and molybdenum concentrate, refined silver, gold, and other materials.

Incorporated in 1952 (Delaware), the Company also has offices in Mexico and Peru. Southern Copper is 88.9 percent owned by Grupo Mexico, which is a Mexican company whose shares trade on the Mexican stock exchange. The international investment community holds the remaining 11.1 percent.

Southern Copper is one of the largest integrated copper producers globally. All of the Company’s mining, smelting and refining facilities are in Peru and Mexico. Moreover, the Company conducts exploration activities in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Southern Copper believes it has the largest copper reserves globally.

In 2105, Southern Copper had sales of $5.05 Billion(B). Net revenue for 2015 was $0.74B. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) for 2015 was $ 1.95B. The Company distributed $271 million in dividends in 2015. Its dividend is $0.20 and its dividend yield is 0.60 percent.

For Q3 2016, copper mine production rose 25 percent to 224,869 tons from 179,892 tons in Q3 2015. In the nine months’ period (9M 2016), the Company’s mined silver production grew 24.3 percent, and mined zinc production grew 25.1 percent versus the 9Ms of 2015.

Southern Copper’s net sales were $1,400.7 million in Q3 2016. This was 23.6 percent higher than Q3 2015 net sales of $1,133.6 million. This was because of a 30.5 percent increase in copper sales volume resulting from better productive capacity at the Buenavista mine in Mexico.

Q3 EBITDA was $546.5 million. This was 29.7 percent higher than the $421.2 million in Q3 2015. The margin grew from 37.2 percent to 39.0 percent. The Company’s Q3 net income was $197.6 million (14.1 percent of net sales). This is 100.8 percent higher than net income of $98.4 million (8.7 percent of net sales) in Q3 2015.

Mr. German Larrea, Southern Copper’s Chairman of the Board, said in October 2016, “In the third quarter of 2016 we continue receiving the benefit of our new Buenavista concentrator, which operates at full capacity, while our investment program at the Toquepala mine is moving forward on schedule. We produced 672,372 tons of copper in the nine months of 2016, a new Company record for a nine-month period.”

The Company’s Toquepala expansion in Peru will boost yearly production capacity by 100,000 tons of copper to 235,000 tons in 2018. Southern Copper commenced construction of the new concentrator at Toquepala in 2015. The Company noted in its Annual Report for 2015 that it has greater than 70 million tons of copper contained in ore reserves.

Southern Copper’s copper production capacity will grow greater than 90 percent by 2018. Its copper production capacity will be 1.2 million tons by 2018.